Munson Kids at their finest

New baby update :)

2011-04-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

I had my first doctor appointment, and had SLIGHTLY disappointing news. They pushed my due date back a week :( Nothing worse than finding out you actually have LONGER to go!

My dad is of course ecstatic because that puts me due on Dec. 11, instead of Dec 6. Closer to his birthday on the 13th!

Fortunately that was only 'bad' news we got. Baby is looking healthy, well as healthy as they can look at 7 wks! Little heart was beating away at 144 bpm. And yes there is only 1. :)

hmm...any readers??

2011-04-07T18:15:00.001-07:00

SOOO I just thought I'd check to see if I still have readers on here...

I'm going to post some AWESOME news, that I am not sharing on facebook yet, so if someone IS reading this, please keep it off facebook.

I'M PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby #4 is not due until Dec. 6th (Papa Gary wants Dec 13th, I wonder why! :D) So I am really early into the pregnancy, hence why I'm keeping it off FB and such. Charlie is excited and just wants to know if it's a boy or girl. Kinzie is really looking forward to having a little sister, and Nick refuses to accept the news! Mike and I are both pleased to be rounding out our family, as this will be it for us!

Anyway, if anyone's out there, be happy you were one of the 1st to know!

Life...it's been awhile :)

2011-03-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

Hello faithful readers, if there are any left out there! I realize it has literally been MONTHS since the last post about the crazy Munson children, and unfortunately this one will be all written and no visual. :(
Just wanted to do some updating on things going on in our world.

Mike: health-wise Mike has been doing great, still on blood pressure meds for his low blood pressure, but things seem to be going well. He's still being monitored, but it's kept up with the medicine. He has finished his auto cad class, he started taking Aug. 2009. It was really just a refresher course of the one he took at MATC but it was with the updated AutoCad system. He is now on to studying for the Tech Sergeant test. He will test for Tech next Thursday, rarely does anyone actually make TSgt on their 1st attempt, so expectations are low, but I think he has it in him!

Charlie: Charlie is LOVING school, he is excelling in Math, just like his Momma! He received the highest score in Math on the state testing tests, for all 3 Kindergarten classes at his school! I was so proud of him! It's so fun to hear him reading and to see him writing.
It was decided this year, that he would go ahead and have surgery on his 'bad' eye, to help correct the turning. We started patching in October, and playing around with his lenses in his glasses, and unfortunately none of it helped completely. So April 12 he will be in Billings having surgery. He is pretty terrified at the thought, and I'm having problems reassuring him, as I am just as scared.

Kinzie: The princess might FINALLY be potty trained!!!!!! She still has the occasional accident, but I *think* it's looking pretty good! She is doing EXCELLENT health-wise!! (at least 1 of us is!) and is really looking forward to starting school this fall! She recently got her ears pierced a SECOND time, so 2 holes per ear. She was thrilled to get to pick out her own earrings! She's taking after her older brother, and is really getting into her video games. It's fun to see that she is able to actually play them now, and to see how lippy she gets at the tv when it doesn't go her way!

Nick: Nick is struggling a bit in the health department, and we aren't quite sure why. He's had a lingering cough/runny nose for about a month now, we're trying out some things and hopefully something will work. He's become quite the helper for me, always wanting to do laundry and putting things away for me! I really love it!

Me: I have been having my own health issues, I had an upper gi endoscopy and discovered that the little flap that is supposed to keep the food and acid in my stomach, is standing wide open, so I have to have surgery to repair that. The same dr also wants me to have an ultrasound on my liver and gall bladder. I guess just to check and make sure it's all ok :)

Family news: WE GOT A NEW (to us) HOUSE ON BASE!!! It's a 3 bdrm, 2.5 bath, 2 stories WITH a partially finished basement!!! It's so exciting, but unfortunately we have less than a week to move out of this house!

I think that about sums it all up for us for now, check back in another couple months, maybe I'll have posted again! :D

Fall Fun :)

2010-11-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

Charlie officially loves school. I am so happy that he is thriving, (at least for now) I can only hope it lasts! He excels in math like his Mama, and LOVES science. Mike and I both have a chance to volunteer in his class, and it's so nice to be able to talk to his teacher on a weekly basis! We've been through a parent teacher conference, a book fair, and a trip to the fire station already! I offered to help chaperone, and had to take Kinzie and Nick with me. Kinzie LOVED it as much as Charlie did, but Nick was terrified the whole time we were there!This was Nick's expression the whole, when he wasn't crying :(

On a medical front, his 'lazy eye' is getting worse, and we've had to start patching the good eye for 8 hours a day in order to make the bad eye start working again. We also have a consultation in December with a surgeon in Missoula to decide if surgery will be a better/final option. He's doing pretty well with the patch, much better than I thought he would!

The eye patch :)

We let the kids choose their own costumes for Halloween again this year. Kinzie was stoked to be a dragon, and Charlie chose a cheeseburger, which in turn made Nick choose a cheeseburger as well. The morning of the 31st Charlie had a change of heart, and was worried kids would laugh at him for being a sandwich, but it seemed like in general, kids (and parents) were pretty excited about the cheeseburgers!

We also had a chance (and a nice enough day) to take the kids to a Corn MAiZE about 30 minutes from Great Falls, we spent the afternoon there and we all had a blast. Went through the maze, and played in corn, and hay, and had a little train ride. Will definitely be a tradition for us!Jumping in the hay.

Covering Amber with corn in the corn box, instead of sand box.

Mike taking Nick through the corn tunnel.

I can't believe it's November already! This year is flying by! Hopefully I will update more this month than the last 2!

End of summer...

2010-09-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

The Munson babies had a pretty uneventful summer, until August rolled around!

We started our August out with a quick trip to Utah so I could see my doctor down there. We managed to get a full day in at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. We rode the train, and the carousel, saw the baby elephant, ate lunch there AND had icees! The kids had so much fun, and so did Mike and I! We will make this trip again next August, it's a great little end of summer vacation!In the car, on the way to Salt Lake City.
In front of the Hogle Zoo.
Riding the train at the zoo.
Playing on the playground at the zoo.

A few weeks after that, my parents and niece Hannah came to Montana to visit for 5 days. We drove along the Missouri River to see the falls, went to the Paris Gibson museum, the Lewis and Clark interpretive center, had a picnic in the park, went to the fish hatchery, the outdoor plane museum, and played lots of cards! The visit was way too short, and went way too fast. But we were sure glad they made the trip! The Munson babies in front of the Missouri River.

Hannah and Charlie in front of the buffalo at the
Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.

Nana and Papa with the grandkids at the
outdoor plane museum on base.
Everybody feeding the fish at the hatchery.
Papa and the Munson babies sitting by the river.

A week after they left, Charlie officially became a full time student! He started Kindergarten on August 25, and he LOVES it! Mike and I really like his teacher, he has a class size of about 20, and one of my good friends here, her daughter is in his class! He has PE, and Art. Music, Computer time, and Library. Plus I was nervous about him eating school lunch, and planned on sending a sack lunch everyday, but he's actually tried a few hot lunches and surprisingly liked them! Kinzie, Nicholas, and myself definitely feel his lack of presence at home though. We're all 3 so excited to see him after school!All ready for his 1st day of school!

August also brought us Mike's 28th birthday! We were lucky enough to actually get to go out and celebrate, just the 2 of us! Our friends' anniversary was the 28th, so we switched baby-sitting and each enjoyed a much needed night out, KIDLESS! Mike and I hadn't been on a date alone since we left Germany, 15 months ago! We were going to go to dinner and a movie, but neither of us were hungry, (or hungry enough to be able to eat supper AND pig out on movie theater snacks!) so we went to Old Navy, to get Charlie some new jeans, walked the aisles of Office Max, and spent some time in Barnes and Noble. We went and saw The Expendables, which I must confess I wasn't looking forward to, but that's what Mike wanted to see. I ended up really enjoying it!

Doctors, Doctors, Doctors

2010-07-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 21 July, Kinzie and Nicholas both had well child check-ups. Both are completely healthy, and right on track developmentally. Kinzie had her vision tested, and as of now, doesn't need glasses (yay!)
Nicholas was 27 lbs, 33.5 in and 60% in height to weight ratio.
Kinzie was 29.2 lbs, and 38 in, with a 20% height to weight ratio.

Thursday 22 July, I had a follow up endocrinology appointment. My thyroid level, which is supposed to be between .03 and 3.4, was .47 (yay, last time it was 42!) At 1st the physicians assistant that I see, thought my medicine level might be TOO high, they don't want me to become HYPERthyroid (having no thyroid makes me hypothyroid). So she said I need to have labs redone the 1st week of September with a follow up visit the last week of October. After I left the clinic she called the house about an hour later, to say she is now wanting my my levels to be even LOWER than 0.47, so I had to go back and get labs done that day, in case they want to up my dosage! Other than that, everything is looking good, I even lost some weight! Woo-hoo!

Friday 23 July, Charlie had an appointment to check his hearing and vision before Kindergarten. His hearing was perfect, but his 'lazy' (for lack of the PROPER word) eye, was very apparent, and the dr referred us to an optometrist. He hasn't seen an ophthalmologist since before we left Germany, so I was almost expecting it. He weighed 36.4 lbs, and was 42 in tall. I didn't take him, so I don't know what percent that is, but he still looks tiny to me!

Future appointments: I have to go to back to Utah the 1st week of August for my 6 month post surgery follow up. I can't believe it's been 6 months already!
Mike has to go to the dentist to get a special mouth guard because we found out he has sleep apnea, if the mouth guard doesn't work, he will most likely have to have surgery.
Charlie goes to the optometrist the day after school starts! I will be praying that we only have to patch his eye. They told us back when we 1st noticed it, that if we couldn't control it with glasses and patching, he would have to have surgery on it.
I think that's about it for now! This has definitely been an interesting medical year for us! And expensive, if not for military insurance!

And the baby turns 2!

2010-07-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

Nicholas John Munson was born on July 16, 2008 at 10:52 am.
He weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and was 21 in long! He was my biggest
baby. Today he turned 2, and is STILL my biggest kid!

At his 1st birthday party, he had to share the day with his sister McKinzie, and his cousin Mayah. Unfortunately he fell asleep right before all the fun,
so he got to have his own little celebration later that day.
(he DID have to share his cake with Aunt Jenni, because she wanted white cake, but only a sliver, and he demolished the rest!)

Today, he is 2, and all day has definitely acted the part!
He's my little sweetheart, and I wouldn't change a thing!

He was very determined while opening his gifts!
He loved having all of us sing to him!
He worked SO hard to blow out his 2 candles!

I had to add Kinzie's cake from her party, I hadn't
taken the picture when I did her blog!

A video of us singing happy birthday to Kinzie and
Nick opening up one of his presents!

The Princess turns 4!

2010-07-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

July 14, 2006: I went to the dr for a normal check up. However the Princess chose not to cooperate, and it was decided that this would be her day of arrival! 3 extremely short hours of labor, 6 minutes and 4 pushes later she came screaming into the world!7 lbs 9 oz, 20.5 in, born at 4:31pm

Check out that attitude already!

July 14, 2007: Celebrating the 1st birthday of the Princess was a huge affair! Her friends all came to wish her the best birthday. However, it was also a sad day as her daddy was not there to celebrate with her!
1 year old, hardly any hair, and still refusing to walk
(she waited until her daddy got back from the desert!)

July 14, 2008: The people celebrated the Princess's birthday early, since her younger brother was due to make his arrival around her birthday. They were back in KS for this birthday, and it was around the same time as her cousin Mayah's, so they had a joint party. The people enjoyed her Uncle Justin's bbq, and fireworks show, and all the family and KS friends were there to enjoy it with them!
Finally enough hair to do something with!

July 14, 2009: Once again the Princess was able to celebrate her birthday back in KS with the family. It was decided to have a joint party for her, Mayah, and baby brother Nicholas at Great Grandma and Grandpa Schley's house.
1 year later, and her hair is SO long!

July 14, 2010: Today the Princess turns 4! Her parents just can't believe how fast time has gone, and how much light and joy she brings into their lives. She got presents, and balloons, and most importantly CAKE!

So in short, life in the kingdom is good for the Princess, and in return she makes life good for every one around her!
Happy Birthday McKinzie Joy Munson, we love you!

Mommy, Daddy, Charlie, and Nicholas

Getting back into it...

2010-07-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

So, I realize I've been lacking in posts, but really not much has happened in our life! PLUS almost everyone who reads this is on Facebook as well. You can pretty much get all our information from there! :)

I've decided to keep blogging, mostly because I really like writing...I can't guarantee it will be worth reading, and I don't think it will be so much about 'updating our families back home', but it's something I want to do!

Yesterday we went to Mike's squadron's picnic. It was HOT and the kids were rather bored, but we still managed to have fun! We didn't win any of the door prizes (gift cards, or t-shirts), or the 50-50 raffle (a whopping $110!) but we enjoyed the company, and the food!

Today we took the kids to the park, one Charlie's been BEGGING to go to for months! We made it about an hour before the black clouds came rolling in! After a trip to Walmart to get groceries, the weather was gorgeous again! (and we promised Charlie a return trip to make up for having to leave early!)

I picked up the July birthday kids' presents today. It's hard for me to believe that Kinzie will be 4 in 12 days, and Nick 2 in 14! Since the birthdays are so close, I've decided that as far as cake goes, I will be taking a normal boxed cake mix, and making 2 8x8 cakes, so they can each have their own, and there isn't TONS of cake leftover (for me to eat, no doubt lol). Eventually we will have to find a way for them to each get their own celebration, but for now, it's going to be shared!

My parents are planning a trip out to see us in August, I can't wait! AND they might be bringing my neice (who is my Goddaughter, and the 1st neice/nephew for both Mike and I!). We've been here for over a year now, and I'm ready for some company! We were only in Germany for 10 months when we got our 1st visitors! *ok, so technically I have had SOME company, my cousin stopped by for 1 night on her way through, and my other cousin came out to help while I was doing the cancer/surgery recover/radiation, but I mean visitors just visiting for fun lol*

We don't really have any plans this summer. A few projects around the house (and yard!), but that's about it. Mike's still dealing with his heart issues...we're hoping to get some real answers by the end of the month. I'm still trying to get my thyroid medicine back on track, and in August we are making another trip to Salt Lake City for a follow up with the surgeon. That should be my last trip down there, which I have mixed feelings about! I will be glad to get this whole thing behind me, but it sure is nice having a reason to zip on down to SLC for a few days!

I think this is it for my new approach to blogging. Hopefully the next one is more structured and
thought out!

March is happening and I'm still in October!

2010-03-07T21:55:00.001-08:00

Well hello blog world, I've been away, but it's ok, I'm back now! A lot has happened since my last blog, and this is going to have a LOT of writing, and a few pictures, but I have more pictures to add over the next few days!

So, October happened, My kids LOVED Halloween! We went to the Charlie's school to a Harvest Fest, they had a lot of fun activities there! Then we walked around a few streets on base, overall it was a great night! The kids pumpkins, L-R Charlie, Kinzie, Nick

They picked their own costumes this year! My Monkey, and Fairy.

Plus my mini-Monkey!

Kinzie golfing at the fest. Charlie playing ring toss!

November brought the 5th birthday of my 1st born! I can't believe it's been (over) 5 years! He had a quiet little party at home, but got what he wanted, so it was all good!

Only a few months old!!

The big day! With his CAKE, not cupcakes!

November also brought me another biopsy in Helena, which came back the same, suspicious but not diagnostic for cancer, so my dr in Helena recommended I go to the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah, he felt they could better handle my odd situation!

I have a TON of cute pictures from December, so I will make that a whole separate blog! We had our 1st real snowfall in years! Went to SD to have an amazing Christmas with my parents, siblings, and their families! We were essentially snowed in at my brother's house for a week, and it was the greatest! All the grandkids,

(clockwise starting with back left) Hannah 8, Elijah 6,

Mayah 5, Colby 5, Charlie 5, Kinzie 3, Cadence 3, and Nick 1,

(oh and SURPRISE My brother and his wife found out
they are expecting THEIR number 3 yay!!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! (ok, a little late! ha ha)

2010 has brought us MANY miracles, MANY blessings, and MANY miles on our car! (not too mention that last few miles to South Dakota and home in December!)
After my dr recommended I go to Utah, (back in Nov.) I kept waiting for my dr to get back with on follow-up. Finally the beginning of January, I call to talk to my military provided primary care manager, and he can't see me until mid-Feb, I break down crying on the appointment line, and the lady immediately transfers me to a patient advocate and low and behold, I get somewhere!! I ended up getting an initial appt the next week down in Salt Lake City!! So we packed our bags and made a mad dash down there for a mini vacation! You can view the pictures from that visit here. For only being there 4 days, we actually got to do a little sight-seeing! Medically, I met the Endocrinologist (Dr. Bentz, AMAZING), had more lab work done, and ended up doing a 3rd biopsy, which also came back suspicious, but not diagnostic. Dr Bentz decided to go ahead and remove the lumps, so we started planning another trip to SLC!

Which brings us to February! When Dr. Bentz's nurse called to tell me he wanted to do the surgery, she said I have 2 opening's next week, which would you prefer?? I was a little shocked at how quickly they would be able to get me in! I made the necessary phone calls and it was decided that my mom and sister would fly to SLC, to watch the kids while Mike and I were at the hospital, and my surgery was scheduled for Feb 4!
My kids loved having Nana and Aunt Jenni there to cart them around the city, they went to the Planetarium, the Children's Museum of Utah, a drive into the mountains, and Wal-Mart! You can view all of those pictures here.
The surgery went very well, the dr decided while he was in there, that my lymph nodes looked suspicious, so he went ahead and took them out as well. I was feeling great the next day, but ended up staying in the hospital for 4 days because my calcium was low. It was great being able to recover without the kids hanging all over me, but I was very restless in the hospital for so long!
The final diagnose ended up being positive for cancer! Ironically it was the lymph node (just 1 out of 4!) that had the cancer in it, not the thyroid tissue or the lumps, thank God he decided to take them out! Dr. Bentz decided with my previous history, and the positive cancer diagnose, I needed to have radiation therapy. Essentially that means, they will take me off my thyroid hormone stimulant, and make my thyroid tissue (and any remaining cancer that ACTS like thyroid) really REALLY hungry. Then I will take radioactive iodine in pill or liquid form, that the thyroid craves, and any remaining cancer will eat it up, and die.
Which brings us to March :)
I am very fortunate to have the family I have. A cousin of mine was able to fly up to Great Falls right after we got back from Utah, to help out with the kids, while I finished recovering (I was on lift restrictions, and still having a bit of pain). My kids have really enjoyed having another adult here to play with, and I've loved having someone to talk to! I am really going to miss her when she leaves!!
I actually had another miracle from God this last month. I received my referral to see an endocrinologist in Great Falls, to start the radiation process. The same NIGHT, his office called and said, Dr Cohan is booked for 2 months, but we JUST had a cancellation for tomorrow morning, would you be able to come in? Of course I jumped on the opportunity, and Dr Cohan decided March 1st, I would stop my meds, and March 8th, (ahem TOMORROW) I would get lab work done, to make sure the the thyroid/cancer is hungry enough to take in the radiation, and if so, we should hopefully be able to start the radiation process Wednesday! It's so surreal that this all started over a year ago in Germany, when a random dr( not even my own pcm) decided to do a little bit more in-depth lab work, and it came back with a protein that shouldn't be there, and it could all be over by the end of the month! I've been very fortunate with the drs I've seen, the facilities I've been to, and the family that has been here holding my hand the whole way. Not too mention the thousands, and I feel I am not really exaggerating here, that have been praying, and sending well wishes, and happy thoughts and vibes to me and my family. I can never thank you all enough, but it really has meant so much to us!

Signing this one~
With much love and thanks to all
Jessica, Mike, and kids

Falling leaves= Fall fun!

2009-10-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to clean up the yard so we don't get written up, and I felt it was nice enough for the kids to join us. 4 years of living in a 3rd-then 2nd story apartment meant never having a yard of our own that needed raking. Our kids have never had the pleasure of jumping in big ole pile of leaves! They were hesitant at 1st, then it was the best thing in the world, mostly though they just ran through them, including Nick!

Then after we were all done playing, they helped bag them and we went to the trampoline for awhile. All in all it was a great morning!

For my mom...

2009-10-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

My mom recently requested an updated video of the kids, because Nick has changed so much. When we left KS in July, he was JUST starting to walk around the furniture and let go a bit. Now he's attempting stairs and running all over. Plus, he has an actual vocabulary now, instead of just noises!

For those that want to see pics as well you can see them here, other than that enjoy the video!

So it's been awhile....

2009-09-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

It seems like so much has happened in the last couple months, but at the same time, not a lot has changed! We're getting more settled into our house, we've painted a few walls, got some new furniture, and have most of our stuff unpacked.

The kids are loving it here. We went to an outdoor airplane museum here on base. The kids so badly wanted to touch everything, but of course, we didn't let them. It's so fun these days, they are actually enjoying playing together. The older 2 beg to get to play with Nick, and he's such a bully, he just joins right into the wrestling. Charlie started pre-school in August. He LOVES his school. It's a Lutheran school, so not only does he learn basic school things, he learns bible stories, and prayers, they have worship every day. Kinzie begs to get to go, she will go next year, and Charlie will continue on there in Kindergarten, the school goes through the 1st grade.

Kinzie is talking up a storm, it's amazing how clear it is now! She's a very helpful big sister. Always letting us know when Nick is crying!

Nick is working on his 5th tooth, has learned how to climb onto the couch, and is in general doing all kinds of fun things! He's got some new words just this week alone, he says bye, thanks, more, eat, drink, hi. And also does the signs for more, and eat. Plus if you ask him if he wants to eat he RUNS to his chair, and if you tell him it's time to go night night he goes over to the hallway door and starts banging on it. Such a little boy genius! ha ha

Mike and I are both having our own separate health issues. He is potentially having surgery on his right shoulder, and right knee. Right now he's doing physical therapy for the shoulder, has been for a month, he saw an orthopedic surgeon Monday, who recommended another month of physical therapy, then they will determine if he needs surgery. He has an appointment for his knee today, to see if they will do pt, or just jump right into surgery.

I still don't have a lot to report on my thyroid issue. I went to a specialist in Helena back in August, but due to someone not doing their job, he never received my medical records, so I gave him MY basic information, and he decided he wanted to do a chest/neck scan to make sure the cancer isn't spreading all over. SO I had to get off my thyroid replacement hormone, and wait 3 weeks to see if my levels were high enough to do the scan, they weren't :( so now I have to wait 5 more weeks, and redo my lab work to see if it's high enough then.

This summer was one of the best summer's we've had as a family. Moving from Germany was hard, as we had come to think of it as home...trying to readjust to life in the United States has been fun and difficult. Not knowing anyone here is strange, but it's so nice being back here so my family can call me whenever they want! Before we actually left Germany my sister made a last minute decision to come visit 1 more time. She literally got to Germany on Friday and left Monday, it was short but sweet and we had the best time! We went to one of my favorite places Trier, and I even managed to get us a bus trip to Metz, France, just her and I! It was the perfect ending to our 4 year tour in Europe!

When we 1st got to MT we spent just over a week in lodging, Mike had to inprocess, but the kids managed to keep busy with the toys we got them before leaving Germany! We also had to buy a new car when we got here, and after that we did manage a little sightseeing before our BIG plans of the summer started!

We decided that since our furniture wasn't going to be to MT until July, we should go to KS and visit with family. We were excited for our road trip across the country! We drove to my brother's house in SD the 1st night, then on to KS the next day. It was so nice to be able to see everyone, Mike got to spend all kinds of time with his family. We spent the 4th of July in the big town of Wamego, with Mike's family, and an old buddy of Mike's who is also in the military, it had been 5 years since us wives had seen each other, the boys actually ran into each other on a deployment once! We also got to celebrate Kinzie's 3rd, and Nick's 1st birthday with family! (and actually my niece Mayah's 5th birthday too!) It was the 1st time, we got to celebrate an actual 1st birthday with family! After our long visit in KS, we drove back to SD and spent another night up there, then headed home, spending a night in Sheridan Wyoming.

Once we got home, we had to make a trip out to Tacoma WA, to pick up our car we had shipped over from Germany. It was again, another beautiful drive! My friend Tracy, that I met in Germany, lives in Puyallup, WA, which is not far from Tacoma, so we got to spend a couple nights with them. It was so good to see her again. She left Germany in 2007, but did come to KS last year to see me, and the kids after Nick was born. We took a road trip to Arkansas to see her family, such a nice trip!

So now we are just hanging out, learning the town, and looking forward to the next 3 years. Hope it's as blessed for our family as the last 4 years have been! I am also hoping I can keep more up-to-date with the blog! After reading my friend Jenn W.'s blog (which by the way, was my inspiration to start this blog, AND my obsession of wishing we did more around Europe, I just lived vicariously through her travels) all the time and constantly trying to figure out how she created links in her blogs, I figured it out today! YAY! So, sorry that I completely covered this posts with so many links, but if you click on the blue words, each one will take you to a different photo album I have on facebook, that relates to the topic! (Except Jenn's which will take you to her most awesome blog!) I had so many pictures, that instead of uploading each one separately, you can just go to the album!

traveling again..... :)

2009-06-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

I know it's been forever since I posted last! Our move has gone pretty well so far! We left Germany on May 20th and spent the night in Chicago. We were lucky and got to recheck most of our luggage before we even left the airport for the hotel, so we only took our main suitcase, and carry-ons. The next day we flew to Great Falls via Denver and had amazing flights all around, even though we really didn't get to sit together! When we landed in MT, all of our luggage was the 1st on the belt, turns out they sent it ahead on a previous flight and it was in MT the day before us! Mike's sponsor got us right into our hotel, which was very nice and right there on base, had washer/dryer IN the room! The kids had there own room w/ twin beds, it was great after our 2 wks in the 1 bdrm hotel room in Germany!
We were in that room for a week when we opted to take an older 4 (well really 5, someone built an extra room in the basement) bdrm house on base. It's one of the older villages (neighborhood really) on base and due for demolition and updating in the next few years. On June 30th we moved into the house with no furniture. All of our belongings left Germany in mid-May and should hopefully be to Montana mid-July or so. The kids have been having a blast running around the empty house, AND now that we actually have our own yard we bought the kids a trampoline and small pool (no more apartment living! yay!).
We decided that since Mike had so much leave saved up, and hadn't seen his family in almost 2 years, we would go ahead and make a trip to KS, no sense in hanging out in Montana with no furniture! We left MT VERY EARLY on June 12th and headed to Alexandria SD where my brother, his wife, and 2 kids live and spent the night. It was a very long day in the car. 14 hours total travel time, the kids did way better than I would have imagined! The next day we slept in a bit and had a much shorter trip down to KS. It's been so great being with family and we've stayed busy thus far! We leave KS on July 18th to head back to my brother's for a couple nights, then back to MT on the 20th, where hopefully our stuff will be waiting for us, then we get to head to WA for a wk to pick up our car we had shipped over from Germany!
While we are in KS we get to do a little celebrating, 1st Mike got to spend the 1st Father's Day with his children. We've been parents since 2004, and Mike got to spend 2005 and 2006 with Charlie, but he was deployed for 2007, and I left on Father's Day last year to fly home to have Nick. So it was pretty nice for him! He will also get to be home for Kinzie's birthday for the 1st time this year. She will be 3, she was the only birth he was able to attend, but has yet to celebrate a birthday with her, and as he missed Nick's birth, it will be nice to have him here to celebrate his 1st birthday and even better to be able to celebrate with FAMILY for one of the kid's actual 1st birthdays! Being overseas has really made us appreciate things you really don't think twice about!
And just to apologize for the lack of posts and pictures, Mike's laptop basically quit working once we got to Montana, and I bought a new netbook, but have no way to upload my pictures, eventually there will be a post of nothing but pictures!

Sunny weather + playgrounds = happy kids!

2009-04-17T01:30:00.000-07:00

Not much commentary, took me all day to upload all of these, if you have any questions, leave a comment and I will reply! Don't worry about the comment not showing up, I have it set up so I have to approve them!

Enjoy these videos, sorry there are so many, they are for the most die-hard of fans!

Airmen leadership school!

2009-04-01T03:06:00.000-07:00

Tuesday March 31, 2009 Mike graduated from Airmen Leadership School! ALS is something all airmen must go through in order to sew on staff sergeant. As a sergeant they will be in charge of airmen and have more responsibilities as leaders in the Air Force. The classes also count as college credit hours! Can't beat that!

He started classes on February 25th, and the class lasted not quite 5 weeks! It was very stressful on us as a family. The kids couldn't understand why Daddy was home every night and wouldn't play with them, as he had hours of homework almost every day! Now that his classes are over, he can get started on our outprocessing! 36 days and counting til Montana here we come!

Mike and I all dressed up prior to the graduation!

Mike walking up to graduate!

And officially GRADUATED!!

And now for those that really only come here to see pics of my

children (ahem, JENNI!) These are for you!

Kinz using Mike as a couch

Nick standing, that's all he does now!

This is how the kids fell asleep after Mike's graduation,

they got to stay up til we got home at 10,

and really didn't want to go to bed at all!

Way too cute!

March Madness

2009-03-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

We had a rare nice day so Mike took the older kids

out to play while Nick napped.

Apparently we are going to have a couple soccer

players on our hands!

Sorry about the lack of Kinzie pics, she was

too fast for Mike to catch her on film.

And for the Nick fans, more next time!

Charlie learned to draw the letter A,

upper and lowercase!

You trace the top row, then

freehand the bottom. He

did a pretty good job I think!

And the number 1!

Playin the Wii, and watching!

Sorry this are kind of loud! Charlie got a

new Wii game, its interactive and the

kids loved it!

Just another day for the Munsons

2009-03-18T11:32:00.000-07:00

Pretty self explanatory!! He HATES them!

Kinzie wanted to send a shout out to her Papa!

And then of course, Charlie to his Nana

My lil piano man!

Ok, so I hate that I am in this, but had to show

his new skills!

playdates, doctor appointments and Bucky Convington!?!?

2009-03-09T01:52:00.000-07:00

The kids enjoyed a playdate last week, their friends Hannah, Addison, and Sydney came over to play for awhile! (And of course Mommies April and Tiffanie came over to socialize with ME!) At one point the kids were all being VERY quiet, when I went to check on them, this is what I found!

Nick really hates green beans!
And he's my 1st child to actually LIKE wearing hats!

My friend Sheila talked me into going to the local Kazabra club (little bar on base) for a USO performance. Bucky Covingtong was a contestant on American Idol a few years ago. I wasn't too thrilled about the artist, but was excited to get out of the house! Turns out, he's actually not so bad!

Medical updates: We've had quite the collection of doctor appointments lately. I was waiting for them all to be over to update the blog about them. Will start with Nick and work our way up!

Nicholas has been struggling to gain weight, and had 2 weight checks in the last week. His 1st was on Tuesday and it was exactly 2 wks after his last weight check. He gained a whopping 1 pound 6 ounces in 2 wks! Finally over 15 lbs! He has to go back in a month (March 30) just to check back and make sure he's still improving. The 2nd weight check went as expected. After he gained weight the 1st time I knew it would be good news and it was. Sadly I DID end up giving up nursing. He is fully on bottles and jar food (plus fruit and veggies puffs, and as much table food as he can get!) He is simply thriving now. Crawling, rolling, trying to pull himself up! Such a happy little thing as well! Always laughing.

Kinzie had a cardiology check-up. For those that don't know, or don't remember. When she was born she had a small hole between her upper chambers of her heart (which created a heart murmur), and what we were told was an underdeveloped artery going to her left lung. She had a check-up last when she was 4 months old and already by then, the hole was starting to close up, the cardiologist was pretty optimistic that it would completely close up on its own. We took her in just to make sure everything really was healing on it's own. The new cardiologist confirmed that the hole did indeed close up, and the artery was allowing the proper amount of blood flow to her lung. She is officially no longer referred to, or considered a cardiology patient! YAY!

Charlie had a normal 4 year old well child appointment. At that visit, he basically failed his vision test. He was seeing 20/40 (he could see at 20 what most people see at 40), and I wanted to have his lazy eye checked out because in MY opinion it appeared to be getting worse. The peds dr referred us back over to opthalmology. At that appointment, Charlie had to do a repeat vision test and it was very apparent to me that he would indeed be needing glasses. When the tech was testing his left eye, he couldn't name any of the letters, but with the right he got almost all of them. The dr confirmed that yes he would be getting a prescription for glasses, he can see 20/40 in his right eye, and 21/50 in the left (we ordered the glasses, could take up to 2 weeks to get, he looks so cute, and was sooo excited about them the day we picked them out!). As far as his lazy eye, it went from being very intermittent, to very obvious. She is hoping that wearing the glasses will help him get it refocused and allow him to gain control over it again. If not, we will have to start patching his eye. She also told me that he has really bad astygmatisms in both eyes. Poor kid, he inherited his father and I's poor eyesight.

As for me, I went into endocrinology and basically got no answers. The dr needs to see my old records just to see what we COULD be dealing with. I have to get an ultrasound done on my neck. The dr wants to see if there is anything 'foreign' in there and if so, if it will be big enough to biopsy. I also had to do a bunch of lab work that she had sent off to the states for more in depth testing. She said she was looking for tumor markers, which is apparently what showed up in the labs that the 1st dr did. She is wanting to make sure it's not a fluke, or bad testing or something. She did emphasize to me, that she wants me to be seen by an endocrinologist for the rest of my life.

Oh and Mike is healthy and fine! Ha ha. He is hating ALS, but he's halfway done. His graduation is March 31st. I am not really sure if he's learning anything from the classes, but it gives us something to talk about at night!

Yabba Dabba DOO

2009-02-19T06:41:00.000-08:00

We took the kids to a place called yabadoo the other day and they had a total blast! http://www.yabadoo-mehlingen.de/ It's like a Chuck E Cheese, but instead of paying for each little game, it's a giant open indoor play area. It has trampolines and bouncy castles and all kinds of things. Enjoy the pics and videos!

Kinzie playin on Mike as he is sleeping after a long day of work.

Charlie is WAY at the top, he got really good at going up on his own!

Just another update!!

2009-02-14T06:09:00.000-08:00

The kids have all had doctor appointments within the last 2 weeks so we know how they are growing. Basically good news all around. They definitely take after Mike in the weight department, and Kinz and Nick take after him in the height department, poor Charlie is going to be short like his Mommy!

Charlie was 36lbs, 39 inches. That put him in the 25-50% for both height and weight. He also had to do a vision test and his vision was 20/30. March 6th, he has to go see an opthalmologist for his vision and to see how his lazy eye is doing. He is also going to the dentist for the 1st time (I know, shame on Mike and I for taking so long) on the 27th of this month.

Kinzie was 24 lbs, 34inches. That puts her at 10-25% for weight, and 50% for height. As far as the doctor could tell her heart murmur has corrected itself, but she goes to the Pediatric Cardiologist on February 24th just to make sure, and to see how her underdeveloped artery is growing, the one going to her lung. Back when she was born, the dr said that as long as it grew with her body, even if it stayed smaller they would leave it alone, but if it didn't grow enough, or at all, they would balloon it. She doesn't seem to be having any problems so we have high hopes. She too, is going to the dentist for the 1st time on the 27th, wish me luck!

Nicholas was 13lbs 12 oz and was 26 1/4 inches long. He was 10-25% in height, but <5% in weight. Which means he isn't even on the chart, and considered underweight. He goes back on the 17th for another weight check and if he hasn't shown any improvement then we will discuss supplementing his diet. Currently I am still breastfeeding, and he eats cereal, and lots of jar food a day (plus whatever off our plates he can eat!) For some reason he is just not gaining as much as he should be. He also will be going back for a weight check on March 6th through WIC. I will probably end up feeding him formula bottles on top of the nursing, but those that know me, know that once the bottles start, the nursing slowly stops. That's sad for me, as I had high hopes to nurse until Nick was a year old. I never made it that far with the other 2. He now has TWO teeth, and fortunately he isn't a biter. (YET!) He's moving around, rolling all over the place and trying really hard to crawl.

Mike is doing really well. He has surpassed the 1 yr mark for his LASIK. He had to go back to to have his eyes checked, and found out they over corrected his eyes. He can see great from far away, but up close he has some problems and gets headaches. Unfortunately this means he has to get reading glasses, for when he reads or spends long periods of time on the computer. How's that for irony? He starts his ALS (Airmen Leadership School) on the 25th of this month. Last March he tested for and found out in August that he made Staff Sergeant. This is the 1st rank that he has had to test for. We were both quite thrilled that he made it. In order to rank up, he has to go through ALS. The class will be over at the end of March where he will have a graduation ceremony. He won't actually 'sew on' or rank up until June or so.

I am doing ok. I had some iffy lab results come back the last time I had my thyroid checked, so I have an appointment to go see an endocrinologist. I haven't seen once since the year after I had my thyroid removed. I will most likely be having a body scan to check out some odd cells that showed up in my labs. My regular dr was pretty optismistic that it was all fine, and probably NOT cancer again, so once again we have high hopes! Just wanna get it checked out to make sure things are working as should be.

For those 2 or 3 people who may not already know. We found out that we will be moving to Montana this summer. We are technically supposed to leave here the beginning of May, but don't have to report to Malmstrom Air Force Base until 19 June. Malmstrom is located near Great Falls, Montana. Easily within driving distance to Canada (woo-hoo) and Yellowstone (our honeymoon spot!) It's a farther drive to KS than we would have wanted, but not unreasonable, and if nothing else the plane tickets will be lots cheaper and a way shorter flight! The bad thing is that Mike will be in a Red Horse squadron (technical Air Force description: Rapid Engineers Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer) which means he will deploy and tdy a lot while we are there. (tdy is LIKE a deployment, but lots shorter, and it can be anywhere: overseas, in the states, hurricane relief, things like that.) He is excited for a chance to get to do the jobs he was trained to do, but of course, its disappointing knowing he will be missing so much again.

For those that made it this far, enjoy the pictures, sorry it's just Nick, and watch the videos! Please leave a comment or send an email or something, let me know there are some readers out there! ~Jessica

Mike says this is redneck! But Nick loved it, cause he could sit up!

Posing
I swear his hair is only that red because of the Ajax!
Tummy time! Can't keep him on his back anymore!
If you click on this picture and enlarge it you can see his teeth!
Such a happy baby, loves the camera, or rather attention!

No babies were harmed in the making of this video!

Not as exciting, he squeals pretty loud in the beginning though!

He's home!! and some other stuff

2009-01-30T07:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I am a little behind in THIS update, but Mike made it safely home on January 4th, EARLIER than planned. He was supposed to arrive at 5:30pm, I was there at 5:30 pm, he was there at 5:15pm! Not a great homecoming start! Anyway, I only took Nick, so that he could meet his son for the 1st time without the other children trying to get facetime. When I got him home, Kinzie was a little scared, but Charlie was THRILLED to see his daddy, FINALLY home from work!
He started back at work this week and we are settling into a routine. Not too many months left here in Germany. We are hoping to see a few more sights before May rolls around. Hopefully we should learn what our next duty station is, in the next month or so!
Anyway, enjoy the pictures, and I will try to keep this blog more updated!

The homecoming photo!

Nick and his cool shades.
1st time holding his own cup!

Wearing Mike's hat

He always sticks his foot up when he eats, this was after the jar food!

Self-feeding

Sheila wasn't feeding him fast enough, so he

grabbed the spoon out of her hand and fed himself!

Going to pick up daddy after work!

fuzzy but cute, rockin the hoodies!

She didn't want her pic taken, so she

was running from the camera

The cutest face ever!

Special treat!!!

cleaning the camera..

2008-12-06T03:30:00.000-08:00

Charlie's 4th birthday

Mike's newest batch of pictures!

My lil Ducky!

He didn't want me to put him down!

A pout worthy of Aunt Donna's approval!

Alfalfa

Mary baby-sat and this little boy LOVED Kinzie!

Her not so much!

How DARE he touch her!

Charlie wanted his picture taken too!

Get Dressed up Bunko at my house!

Charlie found a new friend, his dad works with Mike, and is in the same location as him now.

Yes it reallytook TWO people to clean her!

This was only the beginning!

Nick and a friend

My little superhero

His favorite way to sleep, just like Mike

with a paci still

STILL holding the blanket

We had a girlie movie night, Nick got to come, as did ALL that candy!

We got that hat for Charlie at Mike's basic training graduation, when he was 8 days old! ALL my kids have worn it.

Nana bought Charlie those shoes, he couldn't wear them, Kinzie couldn't wear them, my friend's son couldn't wear them, but they fit Nick perfect, 4yrs old and never been worn!

Halloween Bunko at Mary's house

Rhine River with the Quales pictures taken by Shane (and a few by Mary)

The girls and Nick

Charlie

The restaurant we ate at, had this awesome wood burning stove

great atmosphere

The Quales, our family away from family

German Scenery

Dachau Concentration Camp

Mr Blue Eyes

Sorry not much commentary, took me more than 7 hours to get them all loaded and organized, hope you enjoy! If you have questions about any of them, leave a comment!

MORE cousins

2008-11-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

While we were in the states, we were fortunate enough to have a couple visits with Mike's little brother and his wife and 2 sons (Madix is 19 months, Kayden was born while we were home on August 23rd!) Chris actually lived with Mike and I for awhile after we got married. SO it was nice to get to spend some time hanging out and getting to know his wife Larissa, whom he met and married, after we moved to Germany.

Aunt Larissa

Chris, Larissa, Madix, and Kayden in the swing

Uncle Chris and Kayden

Madix and Grandpa

Grandma and Nicholas

She was all happy asking a question

The answer was NO

Baby Kayden, youngest Munson cousin

MY KIDS AREN'T GROWING!!!

2008-11-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

So I took my kids to their WIC appointment today, everything went well. Charlie weighed in at 32.7 lbs and was 391/4 inches, 25% in both. Kinzie was STILL only 23.6 lbs and 33 3/8 inches, which put hera at 25% in height and 10% in weight. Lil Nicholas was only 12 lbs 11 oz which really shocked me! He has barely gained a lb in 2 months and he was 24.5 inches long. He was measure at 25 inches at his 2 month appt, but I don't know how accurate it was. Their measuring was a little odd. Either way he is 25% in weight and 75% in height.

Obviously, they are a perfect combination of Mike and I!

Halloween....

2008-11-05T01:31:00.000-08:00

The kids had a great time trick or treating this year. Charlie went as Thomas the Train (he picked out his own costume this year and was excited about wearing it!) Kinzie went as a tiny little KU Cheerleader, and Nick as the most adorable dalmation ever!

Charlie lasted about 30 minutes and then was wanting to go home and eat his candy, Kinzie didn't want to stop at all, but there wasn't much turnout for candy this year. The kids each only got about 15 pcs of candy, but they had fun and that's all that matters!

Our little cheerleader in training!

Cutest little puppy!

Too cute Thomas!

She was ready to go!!!
He fell asleep before we got home

Completely asleep
Never lost his hat
OR let go of his candy!
Still the only one raring to go!

Family Fun

2008-10-25T02:46:00.000-07:00

So this is totally backdated. While I was in the states, I often baby-sat for my sister. I would be at her house at noon, when the pre-school bus dropped off her youngest and we would hang out until 3:30 when it was time to walk down to pick up her older 2. Frequently we would leave the house right after naptime and go to the park to play. The kids had a blast playing with cousin Mayah, except Nick who mostly slept!

So then my family, nice as can be, decided that instead of listening to me sit at home and moan about missing Mike our anniversary, we would all go to the Renaissance Festival in Kansas City. It's a family favorite, and it just happened to be the Scottish weekend, bagpipes galore! However I didn't feel like MY kids would enjoy it so they stayed at home with great grandma and grandpa, and I enjoyed the day with my neices and nephew instead!

Hannah

Mayah

Hannah

Hannah and Elijah, gender reversal! Oh and Grammy

Eli and Grammy

E and Han

Mayah

Mayah

And then for our final outing we ended up taking the kids to the 'World Famous Topeka Zoo'. Grammy/Nana and Papa, Aunt Jenni, Uncle Justin, Cousins Hannah, Eli, and Mayah and us. We had so much fun!

Always sleeping through everything!

Baby update

2008-09-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

Took Nicholas to the dr today for his 2 month well baby check-up. He weighed a whopping 11 lbs 9 oz (50%) that is an increase of (almost) 3 lbs since birth. And he was 25 inches long (75%), which is roughly 4.5 inches in growth since birth. Developementally he is doing great, right on track! He also had to get his 1st set of shots today, poor baby. He handled them very well, and was running a SLIGHT fever tonight. But he is sleeping away now!
Not sure if I've mentioned, I now have Charlie COMPLETELY potty trained. He goes through naps and most nights and wakes up dry! So proud of him, he did most of it on his own! It definitely pays to wait until THEY are ready! (which from the signs, Kinzie is right around the corner, oy!)
Kinzie is now talking up a storm! I mean most that know her, are aware that she has always been a chatter box, but now you can understand WHAT she is saying! It's so nice, except her favorite words are Leave me alone, and anything ending in NOW!
In Mike news, he found out last month that he passed his staff seargent test, and will be promoted sometime early next year! He still has a while left on his deployment. Time is starting to slow down for him though.
And I am just ready to be back in my own home. I have been very fortunate to be able to come back to Kansas, and stay with my family, to have their help, and support while Mike is gone, and I had Nicholas. But apparently 3 months is long enough. And I still have one left! BUT its already filling up! This weekend for our anniversary, mom and dad are taking me, my sister and the kids to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, my bestie since 2nd grade is coming up the last week of September so we can hang out a bit! Then the 1st weekend of October, we are headed to Omaha for my neice and nephew's birthday party at the ZOO! AND best of all, the week before I leave, my great friend TRACY, whom I met in Germany and haven't seen since May 2007(when she moved to Washington State), will be flying out to spend 5 days with me! I can't wait to see her again, its been WAY too long!
So yeah, that's what's going on with us lately! Sorry no pics, I have some just need to get them on the computer!

South Dakota, Baptisms, cousins, and scars

2008-09-01T18:55:00.000-07:00

So in the last month, we have made a weekend trip to South Dakota, had Nicholas baptized, spent 2 weekends with lots of cousins, and taken quite a few random shots!

The kids watching Spongebob together, their new obsession!

Random shots of Nicholas

Trying to get pics of Charlie's scab, he has since picked it off and now has a red mark.

She wanted her pic taken too!
She sits there ALL the time!
And is always wanting to hold the baby

He rarely wants to hold him

1st group shot! so cute even with only half of Kinzie's face!

ALL the grandkids, Kinzie, Hannah, Charlie, Colby, Elijah, Mayah, and Cadence
Playing at Josh's house

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota

for those who haven't heard of it, the Corn Palace is a huge bldging/museum and every year they decorate the outside of the bldg in different scenes and such, ALL made out of corn cobs and husks. It's very detailed and quite amazing acutally.

I took this pic, THEN realized what it was

and yes, that is done entirely out of CORN!
Nick in his I love hugs shirt!

Charlie ok, so it looks like he is deep in thought, really he was deep into dragon tales!
Daddy's Cup Cake
growling....
Nicholas and his godmother, great-aunt Sandy. His other godparents, are in Germany and couldn't attend the baptism, Mary and Shane Quale.

Wish Mike could have been there :(
My cousin Kalyn was practicing her photography skills
My dad was the chuch Elder who helped during the baptism
and Pastor Ron, still nervous about holding the babies!

TONS of pics mostly from July

2008-08-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

I thought it was about time I cleaned off my camera. These date back as far as July 5th. Kinzie's birthday party. Vacation Bible School. Random pics of the kids. A bunch of new ones of Nicholas. He has changed so much already! Hope you enjoy!

The 2 pics Mike has sent me, in the month+ he's been gone.

The kids playing at the 'playground' at Nana and Papa's house.

Charlie doing 'chores'

On July 5th, we had a joint birthday party for Kinzie and my neice Mayah. There were tons of people and the kids all had a great time. After the party, my brother-in-law shot of fireworks, it was a wonderful ending to a great day. Beautiful weather!

Kinz got her 1st 'bike' she walked it around going vrooom vroom!

The boys waiting for the fireworks
Giving Kinzie a birthday hug!

This summer Charlie got to go to Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the 1st time. It was something I attended every year until I was too old, then I helped or taught every year until we moved to Germany. So this year he was able to go (along with some of his cousins) and I helped out just so I would be there if he needed me. One of their crafts was painting the trash cans from the local ball park. Charlie had a blast, but unlike the other kids who did just a section. Charlie thought his whole SIDE needed to be painted (and the spots around his where the kids didn't 'finish' lol) He had a blast!

VBS finale! The kids sing all the songs they've learned.

My neice Mayah Charlie is the little boy with no hat on.
My nephew Eli
Mayah again
My neice Hannah

Nana decided she was tired of seeing Kinz push her hair out of her eyes, so she cut her some bangs!! Already her hair has gotten so much longer since then, this was ON her 2nd birthday July 14th!

Charlie was rough-housing around with his Uncle Justin and got these lovely carpet burns on his forehead. Of course this is THREE days before I am taking the kids in to get pictures done! I may have to cancel now.

The mall in Topeka has an awesome kids playing area. My sister and I wanted to go hit some sales, but 1st stop was to the play area (so I could feed the baby) and the kids could let loose! They had a blast!

Group shot taken for Daddy/Uncle Mike! Isn't it so great!

My cousin was twisting his hair while he slept. He was all sweaty so it stuck that way. Made me think of how Mike looked when we 1st started dating.